Official Player Inquiry Thread

[Mathletic]

Any of you can comment on Ivan Nalimov? Seems to be doing very well.

 

[Yvanoe]

Hey guys ! Fribourg Gottéron (NLA leader) signed Maxim Sushinsky until the end of the season, and since I'm a big fan of Fribourg, I wanted to have your thoughts on him. Is he still capable to play some quality hockey ? Is he in goop shape, even if he didn't play this season ?

Thank you !

 

[blink]

Tell me more about Vladislav Fokin

Was researching prospects and found this guy. Really don't know much more about him than this. Please enlighten me.

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=30519

Does he have any NHL potential?

 

[SoundAndFury]

No. Size is all he has. He's probably as good as any KHL backup though and should play there much more often.

 

[Hanji]

With the u18 around the corner, how would you rank the 1995's? Is this reasonably accurate?
1. Nichushkin
2. Zadorov
3. Buchnevich
4. Goldobin
5. Zykov
6. Barbashev
7. Tolchinski
8. Shasty
9. Tkachev
10. Mamin

 

[themann]

Is there any chance someone could give me a summery of filatovs season? Numbers look average. Really hoping he can find his game one day.

 

[themann]

Filatov's season

Is there any chance someone could give me a summery of filatovs season? Numbers look average. Really hoping he can find his game one day.

 

[Sergei Makarov]

He played good but not great. He had to fill the whole left by Radulov and this was not an easy job. To be honest, I don't see him as a NHLer anymore. He can be a good KHL player but his game will never reach the expectations which he generated as a junior.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I think this season was a "complete Filatov" meaning there were some dominant games with flashes of true brilliance on the ice but you have to take good with the bad with Filatov so there was inconsistency, attitude problems, lack of effort and demotions to the 4th line as well.

KHL scorer with game breaking ability who doesn't show up on some nights, I think that's his career projection now.

 

[uncleben]

Mikhail Varnakov

Anyone have a proper scouting report on Mikhail Varnakov?

I honestly don't know too much about him, but from what I have seem he seems like a good player, and frankly I'd like to see him come over seas to Toronto! (I do believe his contract expires this off-season?)

 

[VladNYC*]

This guy is just now slowly recovering from the huge stunt in his development his move to North America was. I have a feeling that he will be a late bloomer like Afinogenov.

 

[SoundAndFury]

First, he has no business to play in Toronto or any other NHL team for that matter.

Secondly, for a proper scouting report you can watch any SKA game.

 

[Latgale_fan]

Anyone have a proper scouting report on Mikhail Varnakov?

I honestly don't know too much about him, but from what I have seem he seems like a good player, and frankly I'd like to see him come over seas to Toronto! (I do believe his contract expires this off-season?)

I don't see him in NHL, he's rather small (although compensates with body mass) and in any case don't see him being anything exceptional to play for an NHL team.

 

[Atas2000]

Is there any chance someone could give me a summery of filatovs season? Numbers look average. Really hoping he can find his game one day.

He has found his game. The average numbers reflect his skill. That's what he always was. And it's not a bad thing, because being a regaular is not something a lot of players can say of themselves and he's definitely not the worst of them. He's just a victim of the hype created by the high pick in the NHL draft. That's it.

 

[Atas2000]

Anyone have a proper scouting report on Mikhail Varnakov?

I honestly don't know too much about him, but from what I have seem he seems like a good player, and frankly I'd like to see him come over seas to Toronto! (I do believe his contract expires this off-season?)

Prototypical russian scoring forward. Very good skating and stick-handling, a bit smallish, but with good muscle meanwhile. The thing is he never played on a small rink. Hard to tell if he could adjust to it. In the KHL he will remain one of the best offensive players, but he's not much of a two way player though.

 

[Masson]

Mikhail Varnakov pupil Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. Son Mikhail Pavlovich Varnakov (http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%E0%F0%ED%E0%EA%EE%E2,_%CC%E8%F5%E0%E8%EB_%CF%E0%E2%EB%EE%E2%E8%F7) of the last hockey player and current coach of Russia U21.
He loves his native Torpedo. But they do not get into the playoffs, and since contract ends, he decided to go to the SKA.
The player is very good. Maybe next season he will return to his native Torpedo, and if they are interested in the NHL, he may go over the ocean)

Sorry for my google translate)

 

[uncleben]

First, he has no business to play in Toronto or any other NHL team for that matter.

Secondly, for a proper scouting report you can watch any SKA game.

No business as in his play won't translate or as in it would be inappropriate for him to go try because he is a Russian boy and good ol' Russian don't mix with them North American kids....?


And I don't really have the option to watch SKA games. Limited opportunities, and the KHL timing is terrible for my schedule, and I just can't get around that.
Besides, watching 1 game hardly gives you an idea of the player. I've seen clips and parts of games and I liked what I saw, but you can't jump to a full report on the player from just that - that's why I asked...
Thanks though, Mod...



Thanks Latgale, Atas and Masson! I was kind of worried his size would be an issue in a North American rink, and you guys verified that. During the lockout I started rooting for Torpedo and that's where I found him. Doesn't sound like he'd be able to continue being an offensive threat overseas, but I still think it would be cool if he tried - but he's probably happy where he is and I doubt he makes the move.

 

[Latgale_fan]

This guy is just now slowly recovering from the huge stunt in his development his move to North America was. I have a feeling that he will be a late bloomer like Afinogenov.

I don't think North America was problem. The guy's head though seemed like a problem. Had he stayed in one place, not went back and forth searching for superstar status at the age of 20, he'd be better. But it seems he has sorted that out and will become better.

To be fair the draft number also was too high for him, I mean at the same age Petrov already was playing and scoring for Kazan. Filatov couldn't make CSKA. At that time CSKA was like Slovan and Kazan like SKA of today and as good as he was in 1. liga, I guess there was a reason why they didn't give him a bigger role in Superleague (maybe bad 2 way game I'm speculating).

 

[SoundAndFury]

No business as in his play won't translate or as in it would be inappropriate for him to go try because he is a Russian boy and good ol' Russian don't mix with them North American kids....?

Ok, sorry for being no help at all in my first post but I feel like I've posted these reasons about numerous players so many times it gets boring to do it over and over again.

He's typical case of "not good enough to play in the top-6, non-existent in the bottom-6 role". Weak two-way play, lack of size and physicality and star status in the KHL meaning the unlikely acceptance of the two-way deal/unwillingness to spend time in the AHL at the age of 28. And with Leafs team being pretty stacked on wings there's no way he makes the show out of the training camp.

 

[Masson]

He I have friends in the social network vkontakte.ru (vk.com - 200 million already subscribed)
His page http://vk.com/id188056121
I come from Nizhny Novgorod, and it adds only to friends from his hometown.
He wrote in his status, "Wait, Nizhny Novgorod, I'll be back"

 

[ozo]

I agree, that his biggest enemy was his own head and his advisors, I also agree that this yo-yo between hockey worlds didn't help. So naturally, I hope he'll be able to stay in Ufa for a season or two just to settle down and maybe mature. Obviously it's easy to point out stuff at message boards.

 

[Fulcrum]

Just the fact that he tried to jump from the corrupt Russian minor league back in those days to NHL explains a lot. He overstimated his abilities at the time. NHL was too high for him.

Having said that, I've seen him play live quiet a few times (Syracuse use to come to Toronto a lot). He can be absolutely lethal, and read the game very well. He has a bullet of a shot and can aim too. And we all know his speed.

The couple of times that I spoke with him he was plagued with groin injuries and could not 'explode' on the ice. That was his answer to the criticism from Russian critics (Gimayev and a few others).

 

[helicecopter]

To be fair the draft number also was too high for him, I mean at the same age Petrov already was playing and scoring for Kazan. Filatov couldn't make CSKA. At that time CSKA was like Slovan and Kazan like SKA of today and as good as he was in 1. liga, I guess there was a reason why they didn't give him a bigger role in Superleague (maybe bad 2 way game I'm speculating).

simply, unlike Petrov, Filatov was still a child despite being the same age.

 

[helicecopter]

I think this season was a "complete Filatov" meaning there were some dominant games with flashes of true brilliance on the ice but you have to take good with the bad with Filatov so there was inconsistency, attitude problems, lack of effort and demotions to the 4th line as well.

one thing to add to complete the picture is, some demotions and lack of icetime were only due to Pejorative Slured coaching.

I've rarely seen worse icetime management than under previous Salavat coach.

I've seen Filatov being the best player on the ice and getting barely played as a 'reward'.
If you factor in his icetime, his stats are actually pretty good, second best on the team only behind Mirnov, who got way more PP opportunities though.

You can then add his off games, or even off weeks, and see that when he plays up to his capabilities he is good for KHL and produces. Of course that's also a reason why he struggles to get more icetime:
sometimes crapped the bed when given bigger opportunity, sometimes just being abysmal for a little while (Spengler Cup).. that really hurts his stock in the roster depth chart and he ends up paying the price for it when playing really well and still getting under-utilized/misused (no PP or off his position).


Btw, anyone got infos about his frequent scratches? sometimes it happened after good games, so one has to wonder how many where performances related, how many health related, and how many attitude related (was this a problem this season? i see you're mentioning it.. not sure if it's been reported or just wild guessing on your part).

 

[helicecopter]

Just the fact that he tried to jump from the corrupt Russian minor league back in those days to NHL explains a lot. He overstimated his abilities at the time.

no doubts about this.